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Instead of the unique architectural style of some of the old buildings, their first reaction is: "Why are they wearing uniforms?"

My usual responses are rather by the book and along the lines of : "Well, it's one of the rules, or codes of conduct. It's been there from the beginning, and they're still enforcing it now, maybe to make sure that every student, no matter what his social or economic status, looks the same. Maybe it's like American students wearing sweaters or caps with their university logo. I don't know."

This kind of answer does not impress my friends, who keep saying, "But they're college students, they're adults."

Shamefully, I admit that I am not telling the whole truth. While the shirts, pants, blouses and skirts look similar, other accessories like shoes, handbags, watches and mobile phones stand out. And if you can't tell how well-to-do a student is, then maybe its time for an appointment with an optometrist.

It's only when I tell my friends a few anecdotes that they begin to be more amused.

I recently taught a class in which two female students never wore their uniforms. These two were not drama majors - who sometimes can get away from my colleagues who are very strict about the dress code with the excuse that they had acting or design classes and they wanted to save on laundry costs.

One day, out of curiosity, I asked the two students, "Why do I never see you in uniform?"

"Well, professor, you know we're seniors, and this is our last semester in college," one of them replied. Another added, "The fact of the matter is that we've both significantly gained weight and we can't fit in our uniforms anymore. We can't afford new ones just to wear them for a few months."

A colleague recently reported to me that the two girls, in order to be allowed into their final examinations, borrowed uniforms from their friends, and they're now trying their best to lose weight before buying that one last student uniform to be worn exclusively to the graduation ceremony.

Another example is quite the opposite. A few years ago, a student in her freshman year struck me by the extreme way she wore her uniform. Not only was her blouse loose and her skirt ankle-length - totally different from most of her friends, who sometimes make me wonder if they can breathe comfortably - she buttoned herself all the way up to the top, totally covering her throat, notwithstanding the heat. And so the journalist in me was compelled to ask.

"As a girl from upcountry, I'm very proud to have passed the entrance examination and to be a student at this prestigious university," was her explanation.

The university's code of conduct has exceptions to the rule - like everything else in this country - and allows students to dress as they wish so long as it is polite to classes, but not to examinations. I sometimes ask my students - not those two girls of course - "Why are you wearing the uniform?"

The most common response is unlike Buttoned-Up's though: "So in the morning I don't have to think what to wear."

When such an answer comes from people in their late-teens and early-twenties, and considering the fact that choosing your clothes for the day is one of the simplest decisions one can make, the issue may be more significant than it seems.

The official colour of my university is pink, and - thanks to a sudden case of the runs or a severe headache - I simply skip any events for which I am required to wear a pink or yellow polo or T-shirt. I don't have any of these items and do not plan to buy any soon. The last time I wore either pink or yellow, the compliment I received was: "You look like cotton candy." Does this mean I'm not proud of having worked there for 17 years?

Yesterday, this uniform paranoia - or disease, if you may - struck me first hand when my girlfriend wore a bright-red T-shirt. It took me a while before I could see beyond the red-shirt protests that brought traffic mayhem to my neighbourhood last Sunday to realise that, given her skin and hair colour, she looked great in red. There was no "hidden agenda", no political motive.

In the end, it seems that we'd rather have people think, dress and behave along the same lines. When someone, or a certain group, does something differently, we no longer take them as friends. After a hard-fought football game, with many yellow and red cards, it's good to see the players from both teams exchange shirts, shake hands and congratulate each other. Yet a few minutes later, fights break out between their self-proclaimed die-hard fans in pubs and bars.